Documentation for fancybox.

sty:
Box tips and tricks for LATEX
Timothy Van Zandt
[email protected]
Version 1.3
September 19, 2000

fancybox.sty, together with its documentation, gives extensive

answers to and solutions for many questions about how to frame
or rotate this or that in LATEX. It also contains commands for
shadow, double and oval frames.

Contents
1

Fancy frames

A short course on boxes

Defining LR-box environments

Math

Floats

Center, flushleft and flushright

10

Lists

12

Superimposing boxes

13

Framing a whole page

15

10

Switching to landscape mode midstream

17

11

Verbatim

18

12

Changes

27

fancybox.sty, Version 1.3

Fancy frames

fancybox.sty has five variants of LATEXs \fbox command:

\shadowbox, \doublebox, \ovalbox (with \thinlines) and
\Ovalbox (with \thicklines).
Here are examples:1
\shadowbox{\large\bf New Glarus Birdwatch}

New Glarus Birdwatch

\doublebox{\large\bf New Glarus Birdwatch}

New Glarus Birdwatch

\ovalbox{\large\bf New Glarus Birdwatch}


New Glarus Birdwatch

\Ovalbox{\large\bf New Glarus Birdwatch}



New Glarus Birdwatch

The distance between the box and the frame is \fboxsep, as with LATEXs
\fbox command. The commands use other parameters as well:
\shadowbox The width of the frame is \fboxrule (the same as with \fbox).
The width of the shadow is \shadowsize (default: 4pt).
\doublebox The width of the inner frame is .75\fboxrule, and the width of
the outer frame is 1.5\fboxrule. The distance between the two frames
is 1.5\fboxrule plus .5pt.
1

6pt.

In this documentation, the default value of \fboxsep has been changed from 3pt to

fancybox.sty, Version 1.3

\ovalbox The width of the frame is set by the \thinlines declaration. The
diameter of the corner arcs is set with the \cornersize command.
\cornersize{num}
sets the diameter of the corners arcs to num times the lessor of the
width and height of the box.
\cornersize*{dim}
sets the diameter of the corner arcs to dim. This is all approximate,
because LATEX has a limited range of arc sizes to choose from. The
default is
\cornersize{.5}
\Ovalbox This is like \ovalbox, except that the width of the lines is set by
the \thicklines declaration.
There are no analogs to LATEXs \framebox command, which has various
optional arguments not supported by \fbox. You can get the exact same
functionality by putting the argument of the above framing commands in a
\makebox.
There is also a variant \fancyoval of LATEXs \oval picture object. The
difference is that \oval always makes the diameter of the corner arcs as
large as possible, and \fancyoval uses the \cornersize command to set
the diameter.

A short course on boxes

The \shadowbox, \doublebox, \ovalbox and \Ovalbox commands described

in the previous section are examples of LR-box commands, meaning that
their argument is processed in LR mode. LATEX LR-box commands include
\mbox, \makebox, \fbox, \framebox, \sbox and \savebox. All the PSTricks
commands whose argument is text are LR-box commands, including, e.g, the
framing, rotating, scaling and positioning commands, and some of the node
commands. Any rotation command is an LR-box command.
The purpose of the rest of this documentation is to provide answers to,
and solutions for, frequently asked questions about using LR-box commands

fancybox.sty, Version 1.3

with LATEX. I will use \fbox for the leading example of a box framing command,2 and \rotateleft for the leading example of a box rotation command. (fancybox.sty does not contain a \rotateleft command, as this
must be implemented via \specials, but there are numerous box-rotation
style files around.) However, most of what is said here applies to any LR-box
command.
In each LR-box command, the text is processed in restricted horizontal mode,
which is referred to as LR-mode in Lamports LATEX: Users Guide and
Reference Manual. In restricted horizontal mode, the input, consisting of
regular characters and boxes, is made into one (long or short) line. There is
no line-breaking, nor can there be vertical mode material such as an entire
displayed equation. However, the fact that you can include another box
means that this isnt really a restriction.
For one thing, alignment environments such as LATEXs tabular are just
boxes, and thus present no problem. Picture environments and the LR-box
commands themselves are also just boxes. Entire paragraphs or other vertical
mode material such as displayed equations can be nested in a \parbox or
minipage.

Defining LR-box environments

To frame a minipage, you have to write

\fbox{%
\begin{minipage}{3in}
blah
\end{minipage}}
You might want to define an environment fminipage that frames its contents,
but you cant use
\newenvironment{fminipage}%
{\fbox{\begin{minipage}}%
{\end{minipage}}}
2

In the examples using \fbox, be aware that the default value of \fboxsep has been
changed in this documentation from 3pt to 6pt.

fancybox.sty, Version 1.3

because the braces are not balanced in the definition.

fancybox.sty contains an Sbox environment that makes it easy to define
your own LR-box environments. It is a variant of LATEXs \sbox command
that saves the contents of the environment in a storage bin that can be
retrieved with the command \TheSbox.3 For example, here is a framed minipage:
\begin{Sbox}
\begin{minipage}{3in}
blah
\end{minipage}
\end{Sbox}
\fbox{\TheSbox}
and here is an fminipage environment that works:
\newenvironment{fminipage}%
{\begin{Sbox}\begin{minipage}}%
{\end{minipage}\end{Sbox}\fbox{\TheSbox}}
Lets see that it really works:
\begin{fminipage}{2in}
Since the former doesnt use braces to delimit
the contents of the box, $\ldots$
\end{fminipage}
Since the former doesnt use
braces to delimit the contents of the box, . . .
3

The difference between

\begin{Sbox}
blah
\end{Sbox}
\TheSbox

and
\newsavebox{\mybox}
\sbox{\mybox}{blah}
\usebox{\mybox}
is that Sbox saves the contents globally, and \TheSbox erases the contents globally.

fancybox.sty, Version 1.3

Math

In-line math, or pieces of a displayed equation (as opposed to a whole equation), are horizontal mode material, but most LR-box commands switch out
of math mode when they occur in math mode. Thus, you have to explicitly
switch back in to math mode when desired.4 For example:
$x + y = \fbox{$\Omega$}$
x+y =
You also have to explicitly write
\scriptstyle, \scriptscriptstyle or \displaystyle
if you want one of these special math styles. For example, here I will frame
an equation, but not the equation number:
\begin{equation}
\fbox{$\displaystyle
\int_{\Omega_0} \zeta(\omega) d\omega
\geq \bar{r}$}
\end{equation}

()d r

(1)

Entire displayed equations or eqnarray environments work differently because they are vertical mode material. Thus, they have to go inside a \parbox
or minipage. E.g.,
\newlength{\mylength}
\[
\setlength{\fboxsep}{15pt}
\setlength{\mylength}{\linewidth}
\addtolength{\mylength}{-2\fboxsep}
4

This is not true for the PSTricks LR-box commands.

fancybox.sty, Version 1.3

\addtolength{\mylength}{-2\fboxrule}
\fbox{%
\parbox{\mylength}{
\setlength{\abovedisplayskip}{0pt}
\setlength{\belowdisplayskip}{0pt}
\begin{equation}
x + y = z
\end{equation}}}
\]

x+y =z

(2)

The outer \[ \] are just used to display the boxed equation, rather than
actually switch into math mode. Note how I set the width of the \parbox
so that the displayed box would exactly have width \linewidth.5
I also set the display skips to 0pt and increased the size of \fboxsep so that
I would have the same distance all around between the equation and the
frame.
This is again a mouthful, and so I might instead define:6
\newenvironment{FramedEqn}%
{\setlength{\fboxsep}{15pt}
\setlength{\mylength}{\linewidth}%
\addtolength{\mylength}{-2\fboxsep}%
\addtolength{\mylength}{-2\fboxrule}%
\Sbox
\minipage{\mylength}%
\setlength{\abovedisplayskip}{0pt}%
\setlength{\belowdisplayskip}{0pt}%
\equation}%
{\endequation\endminipage\endSbox
\[\fbox{\TheSbox}\]}
5

That is what \mylength is for. It is better to define a single scratch length that you
reuse rather than creating a new one each time.
6
The reason for using \minipage instead of \begin{minipage}, and so on, is that
with AmS-LATEX, \begin and \end cannot appear in the definition of a new equation
environment.

fancybox.sty, Version 1.3

fancybox.sty doesnt bother defining any such environments, because there

are too many possible designs. But lets see if the one above works:
\begin{FramedEqn}
\Rightarrow P\sim\xi(P_\gamma)- \frac{1}{3}
\end{FramedEqn}

P (P )

1
3

(3)

fancybox.sty contains a Beqnarray environment, which is like the eqnarray

environment but it is not vertical mode material. Instead, it produces a box
just large enough to hold all the equations. For example:
\fbox{%
\begin{Beqnarray*}
x & = & y\\
y & > & x \\
\int_4^5 f(x)dx & = & \sum_{i\in F} x_i
\end{Beqnarray*}}
x = y
y > x
Z 5
4

f (x)dx =

xi

iF

The unstarred version produces standard equation numbers on the right

(even with the leqno style option and AmS-LATEX). It might not work with
special equation numbering macros.

Floats

A common mistake is to put a whole table, figure or other float environment inside an LR-box command. Instead, you should put everything that is

fancybox.sty, Version 1.3

inside the environment (including the \caption, if you want that boxed too)
inside a minipage of the desired width, and then put the minipage inside
the LR-box command.
For example:
\begin{table}[h]
\begin{center}
\fbox{%
\begin{minipage}{.8\textwidth}
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{rl}
foo & bar
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
\caption{A table of foo and bar.}
\end{minipage}}
\end{center}
\end{table}
foo

bar

Table 1: A table of foo and bar.

Note how I had to use center twice: once to center the framed box, and
again to center the stuff inside the box.
That is a mouthful, and so I might define a FramedTable environment like
the following, which sets the size of the minipage so that the framed box is
exactly the width of the page (no need for the first center environment this
time):
\newenvironment{FramedTable}%
{\begin{table}[h]
\begin{Sbox}%
\setlength{\mylength}{\textwidth}%
\addtolength{\mylength}{-2\fboxsep}%
\addtolength{\mylength}{-2\fboxrule}%
\begin{minipage}{\mylength}}%
{\end{minipage}\end{Sbox}\fbox{\TheSbox}\end{table}}%

fancybox.sty, Version 1.3

Now lets see if it works:

\begin{FramedTable}
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{rl}
foo & bar
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
\caption{A table of foo and bar.}
\end{FramedTable}

foo

bar

Table 2: A table of foo and bar.

The most common reason to want to rotate an entire float, caption and all,
is to put it on a page by itself in landscape mode, centered both horizontally
and vertically. Compared to the table framing we did above, we just have to
replace \fbox by our box rotation command (e.g., \rotateleft or whatever),
set the width of the minipage to \textheight (if you want to use the full size
of the page), and use the float position specifier [p]. fancybox.sty contains
an environment,
\begin{landfloat}{float}{rotation command }
...
\end{landfloat}
that automates this. It has two arguments: the name of the floating environment, and your rotation command. For example, if \rotateleft{foo}
rotates foo by 90 degrees, and you want a landscape mode table, then try
\begin{landfloat}{table}{\rotateleft}
...
\end{landfloat}
If the whole document is in landscape mode, then landfloat gives you a
portrait-mode floatgood for a table that is too tall to fit in landscape
mode.

fancybox.sty, Version 1.3

10

If you dont add a caption to a float, it doesnt matter much what floating
environment you use (e.g., table, figure or whatever). Thus, you can put
anything in a landscape float. For example, suppose I have a very wide
equation. Then I can write:
\begin{landfloat}{table}{\rotateleft}
\begin{equation}
...
\end{equation}
\end{landfloat}
fancybox.sty defines a generic caption, \GenericCaption, that doesnt affect the numbering of floats, doesnt make an entry in a list of floats, and
doesnt add anything to the argument you give. I could have used this if I
wanted to add a caption to the previous example.

Center, flushleft and flushright

There are two ways to box a center, flushleft or flushright environment.

If you have long lines and you want TEX to do the line breaking, then put the
environment inside a minipage.7 If you have short lines and you want the
frame to adjust itself to the size of the longest line, then use fancybox.stys
Bcenter, Bflushleft or Bflushright
environment instead.
These are basically just tabular environments with a single column, and so
each line should end with \\, or \\[dim] to insert extra space, and the text
on each line must be balanced. Also, each line is sitting in its own group,
and so, e.g., if you want to change the font for the whole environment, you
should do this before the environment rather than after. Like the tabular
environment, the box that is produced has the baseline at the center, unless
you include an optional argument [t] to align the box with the top line or
[b] to align the box with the bottom line.
For example:
7

List and other such environments work best inside a minipage environment rather
than a \parbox.

fancybox.sty, Version 1.3

11

\setlength{\fboxsep}{10pt}%
\fbox{%
\begin{Bcenter}
Love of life\\
and other short stories\\
by Policarpa Salabarrieta
\end{Bcenter}}
Love of life
and other short stories
by Policarpa Salabarrieta

Compare this with:

\setlength{\fboxsep}{10pt}%
\fbox{%
\begin{minipage}{6cm}
\begin{center}
Love of life and other short stories
by Policarpa Salabarrieta
\end{center}
\end{minipage}}

Love of life and other short

stories by Policarpa Salabarrieta

In either case, if we want the resulting framed box centered, we have to

include it inside another center environment.
Here is another example:
My list: \fbox{%
\begin{Bflushleft}[b]
Galanga root\\
Coconut\\
Tempeh
\end{Bflushleft}}

fancybox.sty, Version 1.3

12

Galanga root
Coconut
My list: Tempeh

Lists

There are again two ways to box a list environment such as

itemize, enumerate or description.
You can put it in a minipage of pre-determined size and let TEX do the line
breaking, or you can use
Bitemize, Benumerate or Bdescription
instead, and let the box adjust to the size of the longest line.
For example.
\fbox{%
\begin{Bitemize}
\item Groceries
\item Clean hamster cages
\item Pick up Peter
\end{Bitemize}}
Groceries
Clean hamster cages
Pick up Peter
Most of the usual list parameters are irrelevant except for \itemsep and
\labelsep. These environments are also based on the tabular environment,
and so each item should be balanced text. You cant write \vspace{4pt}
either, but you can insert an extra amount of space before an item by writing
\item(4pt) (or \item(4pt)[label] if you have a label). Also, you can break
lines within an item using \\ or \\[dim]. For example:

fancybox.sty, Version 1.3

13

\fbox{%
\begin{Bdescription}
\item[David] Groceries
\item[Eli] Hamster cages\\
Surreal numbers
\item(3pt)[Doris] Pick up Peter
\end{Bdescription}}
David Groceries
Eli

Hamster cages
Surreal numbers

Doris Pick up Peter

These environments also have an optional argument, [t] to align the box
with the top line, and [b] to align the box with the bottom line.
To do:
\fbox{\setlength{\itemsep}{0pt}%
\begin{Benumerate}[t]
\item Groceries
\item Hamster cages
\item Pick up Peter
\end{Benumerate}}
To do: 1. Groceries
2. Hamster cages
3. Pick up Peter
There is also a generic \Blist command that is analogous to LATEXs \list.
It has the same two obligatory arguments, plus a third optional [t] or [b]
argument for changing the alignment.

Superimposing boxes

The command

fancybox.sty, Version 1.3

14

\boxput*(x ,y){LR stuff1 }{LR stuff2 }

puts LR stuff1 either behind (the default) or in front of (with the *) LR
stuff2 .8 The resulting box has the dimensions of LR stuff2 .
The coordinates (x ,y) determine where the center of LR stuff1 is positioned.
For example, (0,0) puts it at the center of LR stuff2 , (0,1) puts it at the
center-top, and (-1,-1) puts it in the bottom-left corner.
More generally, the origin of the coordinate system is at the center of LR
stuff2 , one unit in the vertical direction is half the vertical size of LR stuff2 ,
and one unit in the horizontal direction is half the width of LR stuff2 . Thus,
x and y should always be numbers (without units such as pt or cm), with one
exception: If y is b or B, LR stuff1 is positioned vertically at the baseline of
LR stuff2 . (x ,y) is optionalthe default is (0,0).
Except for the funny coordinate system, \boxput is like the \put command
in a picture. In particular, you can use \makebox in LR stuff1 to fine-tune
the positioning, and LR-stuff1 can contain a picture environment.
You might use \boxput to put a water mark in the background of a box,
or to put a label next to a box, when you dont want this label to take up
any space. Here is a lazy example:
\boxput{\makebox(0,0){\Huge Censored!}}{\parbox{3in}{%
The origin of the coordinate system is at the center of
{\em LR stuff2}, and one unit in the x-direction
is half the width of {\em LR stuff2}.}}
The origin of the coordinate system is at
the center of LR stuff2, and one unit in the
x-direction is half the width of LR stuff2.

Censored!

This would be a lot more interesting using PSTricks, with Censored! in

the foreground, rotated 30 degrees, and red:
\boxput*{\rput{30}{\Huge\red Censored}}{\parbox{3in}{%
blah blah}}
Here is another example using PSTricks:
8

You will only notice the difference between \boxput and \boxput* if you are using
color implemented by \specials

fancybox.sty, Version 1.3

15

\newcommand{\titledframe}[2]{%
\boxput*(0,1){\psframebox*{#1}}%
{\psframebox[framesep=12pt]{#2}}}
The following example illustrated roughly how it works, but My title does
not blot out the frame behind it because this documentation does not use
PSTricks.
\titledframe{My title}{%
\parbox{2in}{The title is superimposed
on the top part of the frame.}}
My title
The title is superimposed on
the top part of the frame.

Framing a whole page

The commands
\fancyput*(x ,y){LR stuff }
\thisfancyput*(x ,y){LR stuff }
are pretty much like \put commands in a LATEX picture environment whose
origin is 1 inch down and to the right from the top left corner of the page.9
The only differences are that (i) that any LR-mode material is permitted
(including LATEX picture environment, of course), (ii) the coordinate is optional (0pt,0pt) is substituted by default), and (iii) if the coordinate is
included, you must specify the units.
\thisfancyput affects only the current page, and is a global declaration
(analogous to \thispagestyle).
If you include the optional *, then the command adds to, rather than replaces,
other things that have been inserted with \fancyput or \thisfancyput.
These commands are particularly useful for framing a page, because you can
get a frame that is, e.g., 1 inch from each side of the physical page without
having to worry about what margins you are using for the document. Here
is an example:
9

Dont blame me for TEXs peculiar 1 inch margins.

'

fancybox.sty, Version 1.3

16

\thisfancyput(3.25in,-4.5in){%
\setlength{\unitlength}{1in}\fancyoval(7,9.5)}
You could also use \fancyput to add some kind of watermark or background image (e.g., a light gray DRAFT).
There are other commands that directly frame or in some other way box the
page of text:
\fancypage{cmds1 }{cmds2 }
\thisfancypage{cmds1 }{cmds2 }
Each finished page, before adding the headers and footers, (and thus having
width and height \textwidth and \textheight, is boxed with
cmds1 {pagebox }
Thus, cmds1 should be, or should end with, a command whose argument
can be a box, such as \fbox or \rotateleft.
Then the headers and footers are added, using the new width of the page,
and this is boxed with
cmds2 {pagebox }
The same rules apply to cmds2 as to cmds1 .
Here is an example:
\thisfancypage{%
\setlength{\fboxsep}{8pt}%
\setlength{\shadowsize}{8pt}%
\shadowbox}{}
Warning: The commands described in this section change LATEXs output
routine, and may not work with document styles that do the same. Also,
bad arguments can cause serious errors with uninformative error messages.

&

fancybox.sty, Version 1.3

10

17

Switching to landscape mode midstream

The most common reason to switch to landscape mode midstream is to rotate

a float, such as a table or figure. This was discussed in Section 5.
If you want to rotate one or more pages, without rotating the headers and
footers, use the
\begin{LandScape}{cmd }
...
\end{LandScape}
environment. cmd should be the command for rotating the page 90 degrees
to the left or right. (E.g., \rotateleft, or \rotate[l].)
If you want to rotate the headers, footers and margins as well, use the
\begin{Landscape}{paperwidth}{paperheight}{cmd }
...
\end{Landscape}
environment (the small s makes the difference) to rotate the pages left (counterclockwise), and use the Landscape* environment (same arguments) to rotate the pages right (clockwise). The three arguments are the width of the
paper, the height of the paper, and the rotation command you are using.
For example, if I have a portrait mode document using the US 8.5in by 11in
paper, and if \rotateleft{foo} rotates foo 90 degrees counterclockwise,
then I can write
\begin{Landscape}{8.5in}{11in}{\rotateleft}
You can use \LandScape, \Landscape and \Landscape*, rather then the
LandScape, Landscape and Landscape* environments, if you want the rest
of the document to be in landscape mode.
If your document is being printed in landscape mode, then these environments switch to portrait mode.
For example, suppose I have a landscape mode document, and I want to
switch to portrait mode for the rest of the document, rotating the pages to
the right with \rotateright. Then I would write

fancybox.sty, Version 1.3

18

\Landscape*{11in}{8.5in}{\rotateright}
These environments switch the text width and height, leaving the margins
exactly as they were before. It is quite possible that you want to make
other changes to the page parameters after switching to landscape mode, but
as Lamport points out the LATEX Users Guide and Reference Manual, this
generally doesnt work right in the middle of the document. fancybox.sty
has a command \UsePageParameters which gets around this. It should be
used right after you change the page parameters (and the page parameter
changes should come right after the beginning of the landscape environment,
or \clearpage).
Warning: The commands and environments described in this section change
LATEXs output routine, and may not work with document styles that do the
same. Also, bad arguments can cause serious errors with uninformative error
messages.

11

Verbatim

If you try to frame some verbatim text by typing

\fbox{%
\begin{minipage}{5cm}
\begin{verbatim}
\My \Program \Listing
if { foo } { bar } fi
\end{verbatim}
\end{minipage}}
you will get nonsense at best. This is because the argument to \fbox is read
before the \begin{verbatim} is processed. But then it is too late for TEX
to go back and interpret the contents of the verbatim environment literally
rather than as special TEX commands and characters.
One solution is to use the Sbox environment:
\begin{Sbox}
\begin{minipage}{5cm}
\begin{verbatim}
\My \Program \Listing

fancybox.sty, Version 1.3

19

if { foo } { bar } fi
\end{verbatim}
\end{minipage}
\end{Sbox}
\setlength{\fboxsep}{8pt}
\fbox{\TheSbox}
\My \Program \Listing
if { foo } { bar } fi
fancybox.sty also contains a command that fixes LATEXs LR-box commands for use with verbatim text:
\VerbBox{cmd }{LR stuff }
This is like
cmd {LR stuff }
but LR stuff can contain verbatim text.10 For example:
\VerbBox{\fbox}{\verb+\foo{bar}+}
\foo{bar}
For footnotes, put the command \VerbatimFootnotes in the preamble, and
then you can use verbatim commands or environments in the argument of
\footnote. This is an optional feature because it might conflict with somebody elses modification of the footnote system.
If you try to define your own framed verbatim environment with
\newenvironment{FramedVerb}%
{\begin{Sbox}\begin{minipage}{5in}\begin{verbatim}}
{\end{verbatim}\end{minipage}\end{Sbox}
\setlength{\fboxsep}{8pt}\fbox{\TheSbox}}
10

Or other tricks that involve \catcode changes, as occurs with some foreign language
macros.

fancybox.sty, Version 1.3

20

and then type

\begin{FramedVerb}
if { foo } { bar } fi
\end{FramedVerb}
you will again run into trouble because after the \begin{verbatim}, LATEX
is searching for the literal string \end{verbatim} as the end of the verbatim
text. It just skips right over the \end{FramedVerb} and may well continue
to the end of the file or until it throws up.
fancybox.sty contains some verbatim environments that get around this
problem and that have other advantages for LR-boxing verbatim listings,
when compared to the standard LATEX verbatim environment. Admittedly,
many of their special features have nothing to do with boxes.
Here are the basic verbatim environments:
Verbatim Works pretty much like LATEXs verbatim.
LVerbatim Like Verbatim, but list rather than trivlist is used to display
the listing, and so it is indented from the left margin. (This is what I
am using for verbatim listings in this document.)
BVerbatim[pos] Produces a box with the same width as the longest verbatim line. The baseline is in the center, unless you include the optional
argument [t] for alignment with the top line or [b] for alignment with
the bottom line.
VerbatimOut{file} Writes the verbatim text to file.
SaveVerbatim{cmd } Saves the verbatim text as cmd . cmd is defined globally, without checking whether cmd is already defined. Use obviously
innocuous names like \MyTemp.
Important: For any of these verbatim environments, or new verbatim
environments you define yourself (see below), nothing should come after
\begin{Verbatim} or before \end{Verbatim} on the same line not even
spaces!11 If you put something after \begin{Verbatim} on the same line, it
11

If you need to allow something to come before \end{Verbatim}, then you have two
options:
Put the command \AltGetVerbatim in the preamble. This switches to a scheme

fancybox.sty, Version 1.3

21

is simply ignored. However, if you put something after \end{Verbatim} on

the same line, or if you misspell \end{Verbatim}, you will get an error such
as
! File ended while scanning use of \Verbatim.
and the document will end at that point.
You can define new verbatim environments using \newenvironment. You
just have to start the definition with
\VerbatimEnvironment
For example, here is the framed verbatim environment we tried earlier:
\newenvironment{FramedVerb}%
{\VerbatimEnvironment
\begin{Sbox}\begin{minipage}{5cm}\begin{Verbatim}}%
{\end{Verbatim}\end{minipage}\end{Sbox}
\setlength{\fboxsep}{8pt}\fbox{\TheSbox}}
Lets give it a try:
\begin{FramedVerb}
if { foo } { bar } fi
\end{FramedVerb}
if { foo } { bar } fi
Here are three commands for inputting a whole file verbatim. The file must
end with a new line.
where anything preceding \end{Verbatim} is simply ignored. This can cause problems if you do really weird things with active characters or other commands within
the verbatim environment (e.g., active conditionals that are not balanced within a
line of verbatim text), but in this case you are probably a good enough hacker to
use the next option.
\EndVerbatimTokens is a token register that you can set to the tokens that should
precede \end{Verbatim} on the same line, with their verbatim \catcodes.

fancybox.sty, Version 1.3

22

\VerbatimInput{file} Like \Verbatim.

\LVerbatimInput{file} Like \LVerbatim.
\BVerbatimInput[pos]{file} Like \BVerbatim.
Here are three commands for making use of verbatim text that has been
saved to a command:
\UseVerbatim{cmd } Like \Verbatim.
\LUseVerbatim{cmd } Like \LVerbatim.
\BUseVerbatim[pos]{cmd } Like \BVerbatim.
The SaveVerbatim environment and the \UseVerbatim commands are useful
for including verbatim text in the argument of \marginpar, \fbox and other
commands. For example, here is another way to define the FramedVerb
environment:
\newenvironment{FramedVerb}%
{\VerbatimEnvironment
\begin{SaveVerbatim}{\MyTemp}}%
{\end{SaveVerbatim}%
\setlength{\fboxsep}{8pt}%
\fbox{\begin{minipage}{5cm}\UseVerbatim{\MyTemp}
\end{minipage}}}
Here are some verbatim commands for short-pieces of (in-line) verbatim text:
\Verbchar literal char
Like LATEXs \verb command, but it will complain if it encounters a
new line in literal .12 For example:
The main use for the \Verb+SaveVerbatim+
environment and the \Verb+\UseVerbatim+
commands is to include $\ldots$
The main use for the SaveVerbatim environment and the
\UseVerbatim commands is to include . . .
12

Be careful that your word processing does not insert one for you.

fancybox.sty, Version 1.3

23

\UseVerb{cmd } Like \UseVerbatim, but without any particular formatting. It is intended for including short pieces of literal text saved with
\SaveVerb (below).13
\SaveVerb[whatever ]{cmd }char literal char
This is like \Verb, but it saves literal as cmd , and then returns to the
optional argument whatever . Like the SaveVerbatim environment, it
defines cmd globally without checking whether cmd is already defined.
Without the optional argument, the most common use is for including
verbatim text in a \marginpar, \section or other command argument.
The optional argument can be used for special tricks. For example,
all the listings of commands in this documentation use \vitem in a
description environment, where \vitem is defined by:14
\newcommand{\vitem}%
{\SaveVerb[{\item[\UseVerb{\MyTemp}]}]{\MyTemp}}
Whereas
\item[\Verb"\foo"]
would not work because after \item reads its argument it is too late
to interpret \foo literally,
\vitem"foo"
does work because it is equivalent to
\SaveVerb{\MyTemp}"foo"\item[\UseVerb{\MyTemp}]
These environments and commands use various parameters that make it easy
to customize their behavior. However, until you want to find the need for
such customization, you might as well ignore the rest of this section.
Internally, fancybox.sty separates the reading and formatting of verbatim
text. Most of the environments and commands perform both functions, but
SaveVerbatim and \SaveVerb only read the text, while UseVerbatim (and
company) and \UseVerb only format the text. VerbatimOut gets special
treatment. The parameters that apply to each class of verbatim environment
or command is listed in Table 3.
13

But it can also be used for multiple lines saved with the SaveVerbatim environment
if you want to do the formatting yourself. E.g., try this in a tabbing environment with
\VerbatimTab appropriately defined.
14
The braces enclosing the optional argument of \SaveVerb prevent the ] inside the
argument from being mistaken for the end of the argument.

fancybox.sty, Version 1.3

24

Where

What

Environments
that format

\VerbatimSpace
\VerbatimTab
\VerbatimFont
\VerbatimFuzz
\EveryVerbatimLine
\EveryVerbatim
\ThisVerb

Environments
that read

\EveryVerbatimCodes
\ThisVerbCodes

\Verb and
\UseVerb

\VerbSpace
\VerbTab
\VerbFont
\EveryVerb
\ThisVerb

\Verb and
\SaveVerb

\EveryVerbCodes
\ThisVerbCodes

VerbatimOut

\EveryVerbOutCodes
\ThisVerbCodes
\EveryVerbOutLine
\ThisVerb

Table 3: Parameters for the verbatim environments and commands.

fancybox.sty, Version 1.3

25

All the parameters, including \VerbatimFuzz, are ordinary commands, and

should be changed with \renewcommand.
Here is a description of each of the parameters for environments that format
the verbatim text:
\VerbatimSpace The insertion text for spaces. The default is \ , which
produces a blank space. Change it to \ttspace to get .
\VerbatimTab The insertion text for tabs. The default is
\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \
\VerbatimFont The font to use for verbatim text. The default is \tt
\VerbatimFuzz This is the amount by which lines can be too long in a
Verbatim or LVerbatim environment before you get overfull \hbox
warnings. This threshold is usually .1pt, but the default definition
of \VerbatimFuzz is 2pt because verbatim lines wont break and are
therefore often too long.
\EveryVerbatimLine This is inserted at the beginning of each line of verbatim environments or verbatim files. By default it does nothing. I like
to indent each line in the verbatim environment in the input file by 2
spaces, so I define
\renewcommand{\EveryVerbatimLine}[2]{}
to eat those spaces. (But I have to remember to put in two spaces or
space markers for blank lines too.) You might also use it to number
the lines. For example:
\newcounter{VerbLineNo}
\renewcommand{\EveryVerbatimLine}%
{\makebox[10pt][r]{%
\stepcounter{VerbLineNo}%
\tiny\rm\arabic{VerbLineNo}}%
\hspace{10pt}}
\renewcommand{\EveryVerbatim}%
{\setcounter{VerbLineNo}{0}}
\begin{SaveVerbatim}{\MyTemp}
\setlength{\fboxsep}{15pt}
\setlength{\mylength}{\linewidth}
\end{SaveVerbatim}
\fbox{\BUseVerbatim{\MyTemp}}

fancybox.sty, Version 1.3

1
2

26

\setlength{\fboxsep}{15pt}
\setlength{\mylength}{\linewidth}

\EveryVerbatim Whatever else you want to say before formatting the verbatim text. By default, it does nothing.
\ThisVerb This is executed before any of the commands above, and then
its value is cleared. Use this to customize a single verbatim formatting
environment.
Here is a description of the parameters for environments that read the verbatim text:
\EveryVerbatimCodes This command is inserted just before reading the
verbatim text. Use it to play with \catcodes (see the TEXbook). For
example, I might type
\renewcommand{\EveryVerbatimCodes}{\catcode\"=14}
if I want to use " as a comment character in verbatim text.15
\ThisVerbCodes This command is executed before \EveryVerbCodes, and
then it is cleared. Use this to fool with the \catcodes of a single
verbatim environment.
The parameters for \Verb, \UseVerb and \SaveVerb and the VerbatimOut
environment are analogous to the similar commands for other environments.
Here is an example of the use of \ThisVerb to define a variant of \Verb that
uses to mark spaces:
\newcommand{\SVerb}{%
\renewcommand{\ThisVerb}%
{\renewcommand{\VerbatimSpace}{\ttspace}}%
\Verb}
15
Here is another \catcode trick. We make " a short verbatim command, so that we
can say "foo" instead of \Verb"foo":

\def\MyQuote{"}
% \MyQuote is now the character ",
\def\temp{\Verb"} %
in case I need it.
\catcode\"=13
% Now " is like a command.
\let"\temp
% Now "foo" is like \Verb"foo"
\def\do{\noexpand\do\noexpand}
% Now " can be used in verbatim
\edef\dospecials{\dospecials\do\"} % environments anyway.

fancybox.sty, Version 1.3

27

Finally, without further comment, here are the definitions of the example and
example* environments that were used for the examples in this document:
% 1. Save example verbatim to \jobname.tmp,
% 2. Input verbatim with \catcode\"=14 (" is a comment).
% 3. Input again with \catcode\"=9 (" is ignored).
\renewcommand{\EveryVerbatimLine}[2]{}
\renewcommand{\EveryVerbOutLine}[2]{}
\newcommand{\BeginExample}{%
\VerbatimEnvironment\begin{VerbatimOut}{\jobname.tmp}}
\newcommand{\EndExample}{%
\end{VerbatimOut}%.
\renewcommand{\EveryVerbatimLine}{}%
\renewcommand{\EveryVerbatimCodes}{\catcode\"=14}%
\LVerbatimInput{\jobname.tmp}%
\catcode\"=9}
\newenvironment{example}{\BeginExample}{\EndExample
\begin{center}\input{\jobname.tmp}\end{center}}
\newenvironment{example*}{\BeginExample}%
{\EndExample \input{\jobname.tmp}}
\newenvironment{example**}{\BeginExample}%
{\EndExample \globaldefs=1 \input{\jobname.tmp}}

12

Changes

Version 0.9, November 23, 1992 First release.

Version 0.91, November 25, 1992
1. \shadowsize is now a length, to be set with \setlength or
\addtolength.

fancybox.sty, Version 1.3

28

2. \fancypage split into \fancypage and \fancyput

Version 0.92, December 20, 1992
1. New \boxput command for superimposing boxes.
2. New \VerbatimFootnotes command.
3. New \VerbBox command for verbatim boxes.
4. New Sbox environment. Makes \beginsbox and \endsbox obsolete,
but the latter have been retained for compatibility.
Version 0.93, January 20, 1993
1. New \EndVerbatimTokens for tokens that precede \end{Verbatim}.
2. New \AltGetVerbatim, to allow any tokens to precede
\end{Verbatim}.
3. Fixed bug in \BVerbatimInput that caused second line to be
repeated.
4. New LandScape environment, for rotating pages without rotating
headers and footers.
5. Slide frames Oval, oval, shadow and double are defined when
seminar.sty v0.93 (and maybe later) is loaded.
Version 1.0, February 10, 1993
1. Fixed bugs in \boxput.
2. New Beqnarray environment.
Version 1.1, 1997 (D.G./S.R.)
1. Minimal adaptations for LATEX 2e compatibility (macros \fancypage,
\thisfancypage, \fancyput, \thisfancyput, \@Landscape,
\LandScape).

fancybox.sty, Version 1.3

Version 1.2, February 27, 1998 (D.G./S.R.)

1. Other adaptations for LATEX 2e.
Version 1.3, September 19, 2000 (D.G./S.R.)
1. Corrections of the output routine for LATEX 2e compatibility (from
Marcin Wolinski and Heiko Oberdiek).
2. Add a \ProvidesPackage command (from Heiko Oberdiek).

29